5 Things - (or I'm Too Tired To Write!)

I am completed exhausted after a thrilling day at the Circus with the kids. I was gone all day and so I am taking a "Fun Friday" and doing a meme instead of a devotion. Thanks for understanding. Family always comes first.

5 Things Found In My Bag:
Cell Phone
Wallet
Lipstick
Sunglasses
Bible

5 Things Found In My Wallet:
Pictures of my kids & hubs
Credit Card
Drivers License
Build-a-Bear gift card (my kids)
Cash (for once!)

5 Things Found In My Room: (other than furniture)
Notebook on the nightstand for quick ideas
Clothes basket of folded laundry waiting to be put away
Stuffed animal (how did that get in here? KIDS!)
Various books
Photographs

5 Things I’ve Always Wanted To Do:
Travel across the US in an RV (my husband says I wouldn't last a day)
Spend the whole day at a Day Spa
See the great American attractions such as Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, etc.
Live to a healthy old age, and die peacefully in my sleep
Go to Hawaii

I also want to write a book that gets published. But I haven't "always" wanted to do that. That is a new goal!

5 Things I’m Currently Into:
Blogging
Bible Study
Writing
Coffee
Good friends

So play along if you want. Have a great weekend, and thanks for letting me have a "Fun Friday" after a very busy Thursday!

Thankful Thursday 2/19

What 5 things (big or small) am I thankful for this week?

1. Due to sensitive teeth, sometimes a dental cleaning can be painful, but yesterday's cleaning was pain free AND no cavities.

2. Wednesday nights at church. A great excuse NOT to cook! A great opportunity to fellowship, and you may even learn something.

3. Sue J - she is my editor, extraordinaire. She is truthful in her critiques and helps me take my writing to the next level. Thanks Sue J!

4. The Circus! Well, I'm taking the kids today, so by tonight I may not be thankful for it. But as of right now, we're all excited to see the "greatest show on earth!"

5. My short story was accepted to appear in a BOOK being published in Oct. '09. It's called Christmas Miracles, and it being put together by Cecil Murphey and Marley Gibson. Can I get an AMEN! My first book entry people! I am so very excited.

What are you thankful for this week? Join Sonya's Meme by clicking the button below.
Have a great day!

Does God Get Mad?

I heard a Christian song with the lyric "Don't be deceived, God's not mad at you." (this is a paraphrase, I don't recall the exact lyric.) I was chatting with someone about it, who agreed that since the New Covenant established at the cross, that God doesn't get mad at us. Really?

In my recent readings in the Old Testament, all I am reading about is God's burning anger. And usually His anger is followed by wrath and a threat of death. Usually someone intercedes for the person He is mad with. For example when God is angry with the Israelites, Moses pleads for mercy. When God is angry with the Sodomites, Abraham pleads for mercy. God, who is merciful, usually then give some form of punishment with mercy, but not death. The Bible does say God is slow to anger, but believe me it has many many mentions of His anger.

What about the New Testament? In Mark 5, Jesus is angry with the Pharisees for questioning him. Romans 2 talks about God's righteous judgment and says some will receive wrath and anger. In Hebrews 3 the Holy Spirit declares an oath on His anger. Don't forget that we see examples of Jesus anger in Matthew 21. He overturns tables in the temple because of the sinful activities going on there. Then He withers a fig tree that had no fruit on it, because He was hungry.

If Jesus, who was perfect, exhibited anger on earth, certainly this is a just emotion. If God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, and Jesus is God in flesh, surely God does get angry with us. When a child is @bducted, @bused and k!lled, do we really believe God is not angry at that? How could He not be? When a godly husband or wife is lured into adultery, God is not angry? When a pastor leaves his faith and enters a life of sin, God is surely disappointed and yes, angry. God, who had smoldering anger when Moses politely said "Please send someone else," surely feels anger at more blatant sin.

I believe that God does get angry at us today. And we deserve it! His anger is just. But the story doesn't end with the anger. No, the rest of the story is His mercy. He sent His son Jesus to die for us, so that we have forgiveness. Our sins are washed away, and we receive eternal life when what we deserve is eternal damnation.

The Bible doesn't even tell us not to get angry, only not to sin in our anger. (Ephesians 4:26) Surely if God allows our own just anger, as long as we do not sin or practice revenge, then He too must have anger. Praise God that He is so loving and merciful in His anger!

I'd love to hear your thoughts today. Do you believe that God gets mad at us even today? If not, let me know why, I'd love to hear. If so, elaborate on your thoughts. No flaming other opinions, but I'd love to have a forum to hear what you believe and why.

Mark 3:4,5 -- Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

Psalm 38:1 -- O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

Romans 2:5, 8 -- But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed...for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

SEE or PhariSEE

I tend to be good about seeing a situation and sizing it up appropriately. I can read body language and gestures, tone and inflection, attitudes and appearances. Some would call that being astute.

Police officers are trained to check out situations and size them up appropriately as well. By reading body language, gestures, tones, attitudes and appearances, they try to determine what illegal activity may be going on. That is called profiling.

But at what point does sizing up, or inference, become judgment? When do we go from seeing to Phariseeing. That is, being like a Pharisee in the Bible. Pharisees were the religious leaders in Jesus' day. They were considered to be self-righteous rule-followers. They were more concerned with following the letter of the law, than the spirit of the law.

Wikipedia states "An important binary in the New Testament is the opposition between law and love. Accordingly, the New Testament presents the Pharisees as obsessed with man-made rules (especially concerning purity) whereas Jesus is more concerned with God’s love; the Pharisees scorn sinners whereas Jesus seeks them out.

I have to admit, sometimes my "seeing" becomes "phariseeing." Sometimes it's more important to me to be on time, than to stop and lend a helping hand. Sometimes I "size someone up" and think we could never be friends, without getting to know them first. (Sue J & I were on a committee together, and we were seemingly opposites in many ways. We dismissed each other as possible friends, YET GOD put us together again, and now we are the closest of friends. You can read Sue's version of this story here.)

But what other friendships have I missed out on because of my "Phariseeing." What witnessing opportunities have I lost by judging instead of ministering? It's important to be able to see the truth. To do that I need to make sure I'm measuring what I see through God's eyes, not mine. Then I may see things justly and fairly. Then my view will not be phariseeing, but fairly seeing.

Matthew 7:5 -- You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Matthew 13:14-16 -- In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

I Just Got A Letter. Wonder Who It's From?

It's from my friend. Edie at Rich Gifts is "Paying it Forward" by sending 3 people gifts. Those 3 people (one of them is me), then have to send 3 more people gifts, and so on and so on.

Here is what Edie sent me. Opening the package...

Ooh, wrapped! How pretty.

Edie sent me a book mark with some chocolates wrapped in a doily "envelope." And she made this beautiful cross magnet. Jealous? You can make yourself one. Just visit Edie's new craft blog at Creations for the Glory of God Alone. You can find the Doily gift here. You can find the magnet here.

She even sent little gifts for my girls. They were so excited! Thanks "Miss Edie!"

The three folks who will be receiving gifts from me are Mary from MYADHDME, Lea from the Potting Shed, and Patrice from Blessings Amid Chaos. So be watching your mailboxes, and don't forget to post your own "Pay it Forward" post to send gifts to 3 more bloggers each.